Development and Spanish translation of the Weinberg Center Risk and Abuse Prevention Screen (WC-RAPS)

ABSTRACT

Barriers for enhanced detection, identification, and reporting of elder abuse include the paucity of appropriate, valid, easily administered screening tools. This article describes the qualitative methods used in the development of the Weinberg Center Risk and Abuse Prevention Screen (WC-RAPS), and of its Spanish version. Focus groups and cognitive interviews were instrumental in identifying problematic items, underscoring potential response errors, and informing about putative causes for divergent interpretations of item-intent. Seven of the 11 original items were modified, a double-barreled item was segregated into two, one item deleted, and three additional items included to create the final 13 WC-RAPS items. The multi-step approach implemented for the Spanish conversion evidenced deviation from the original intended meaning for one item. The readability for English and Spanish versions was also assessed. Screening for elder abuse, if implemented systematically can be instrumental in identifying unrecognized abuse and preventing reoccurrence.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder abuse
• elder abuse screening
• qualitative methods
• screening tool
• Spanish translation

Additional information

Funding

Funding for these analyses was provided in part by the National Institute on Aging [grant numbers, R03AG0492266 and 1R01AG057389-1]. Support for these analyses was also provided by the Research Core on Measurement and Data Management of the Mount Sinai Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, National Institute on Aging [grant number, 1P30AG028741].